300 Movie Replica Swords, are they worth it?

Like the Movie, the 300 Movie Replica Swords are great fantasy pieces – and a faithful ‘brought to life’ adaptation of Frank Millers Graphic (and I mean GRAPHIC) novels.

The design bears no resemblance to an actual historical Spartan swords – which were leaf shaped and quite plain and utilitarian, like the Spartan warriors themselves. (click here for information on an actual functional replica based on the historical design).

But the question that most people are asking at the moment about 300 movie replica swords for sale on the net is “are they battle ready?”, as they are touted as being made from 'iron' or high carbon steel (depending on which website you visit).

The official 300 movie replica swords are made by a company called neca international who primarily make a range of interesting and fun collectibles including Freddy Krueger Hand Knives and the Knives from V for Vendetta - in other words, display pieces and collectibles.

Interestingly, instead of going down the most common road of using stainless steel - the official description says these swords are made from ‘iron’, but as it turns out they are actually made from high carbon steel! And this is a very positive step in the right direction for a functional replica..

Unfortunately, it isn’t sharpened, though this could be remedied with some of the techniques used in my guide to sharpening a sword.

But here is where things get ugly...

Neca decided to do some last minute changes to the sword after releasing images of the prototypes to stockists. Originally, the image you see on 99% of websites shows a weathered blade – where the actual 300 spartan swords in production will have a clear and shiny high carbon steel blade that really doesn’t look the same...

"This means that if you order the official version, you WONT be getting the same sword that you see shown on the website!"

What is worse is that at the end of the day, with an average price tag of US$150 - the majority of what you are paying for these 300 movie replica swords is licensing fees...

Naturally, with demand for these swords being quite high - it didn't take long for several Chinese factories to start churning out imitiations, which range from the truly pitiful to surprisingly accurate.

As I cannot justify recommending the official 300 movie replica swords and weapons, I believe that the best 'unofficial' replicas are a range of high carbon steel knock offs that cost a third less than the official versions, and look like the actual pictured versions you see shown of the official replicas: the so called DELUXE- King Leonidas Sword pictured below.

All in all, the official 300 movie replica swords were a bit of a disappointment. If they had stuck to the weathered look that they had originally given to various websites before the last minute changes, for $150, they probably would have been ok. But as it stands, the knock offs are much better bang for the buck...